


what could have been

by nataliea_stories



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Mentions of War, Spoilers, mentions of torture, no beta we die like Glenn, the three lords talking in askr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:29:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nataliea_stories/pseuds/nataliea_stories
Summary: Dimitri approaches Edelgard early one morning with a question. Claude happens to overhear and joins in.A conversation about an alternate Fodlan.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	what could have been

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first three houses fic!! I'm very new at this so please don't come for me.  
> I saw some artwork of the three lords as childhood friends which inspired this one shot! I like to imagine that in another world the three of them are friends and Edelgard didn't think she had to fight Those Who Slither In The Dark on her own.  
> It's mostly dialogue. I'm working on getting better at... pretty much everything else.  
> Anyways, enjoy!!

“Edelgard.” Dimitri’s voice was quiet, yet still the commanding tone of a king. “I thought I would find you here.”

The emperor of the newly unified Fodlan looked up to see the man who had been her stepbrother, her classmate and then her enemy - only it wasn’t the version of him that she knew. In her universe, the would-be king was dead. Died to her very own axe, though not the weapon she fought with in this realm. Askr had brought them new possibilities, new faces and new futures, or at least the futures that could have been. 

“How strange, to see you again,” she said slowly. “I’d resigned myself to never seeing your face again. Never again hearing you scold me for my choices. But it seems fate has other plans for me.” She sighed and moved to stand up, but Dimitri motioned for her to stay put and sat beside her. It must’ve been a strange sight; two former friends, former enemies, rulers of the same realm in different dimensions sitting side by side at the edge of a cliff, doing something as simple as staring into the dawn.

A simple question lingered at the edge of each of their thoughts, neither of them brave enough to voice it.

_ Is this what could have been? _

“Edelgard… El. My stepsister, my childhood friend. I know that you are not the version of you that I knew - that version is long gone.” He paused, staring into the early morning sky with an unfocused gaze. “I know that you don’t actually know me as I am now, and yet I feel as though I’ve known for years. While I understand that you are not my dimension’s El, I have a question for her… for you.” 

Edelgard glanced away from the rising colours for a moment, stealing a look at his face. It was almost as she remembered it, though in her mind’s eye she saw what once was overlapping with the image before her. A young boy with hair long enough that a noblewoman mistook him for a maiden. An academy student cautious of his strength, eager to please and desperate to hide the anger beneath. The boar prince, yelling as he slaughtered his enemies, wanting only to quiet the chorus in his mind.

But this was none of them. This was a Dimitri who had taken a different path. This was a Dimitri who had lost time and time again - his people, his country, his will to continue and very nearly his life, but he had come out the other side. And he was alright. Better for it, even. But she wouldn’t tell him that. Those thoughts were for herself only.

“Ask your question,” was all she said. 

He hesitated, fingers twitching as though reaching for the right words. When he finally spoke, his voice was hollow and raw, as though he’d been screaming. “Do you think, in another life… we could have been friends? Could we have been allies, proper siblings even? Do you think we could’ve avoided it all? Is there a realm where a happily ever after exists for us both, for us all?”

A rustling from behind shocked the both of them, keeping Edelgard from answering. The king of Almyra emerged from behind them, grinning sheepishly.

“Claude. Were you eavesdropping?” Edelgard asked, eyeing him suspiciously. 

“Not intentionally,” he admitted. “I was passing by and heard you two talking.”

“Stay a moment, if you will,” Dimitri requested, his voice unusually soft. “I presume you heard what I asked Her Majesty just now. I’d like your thoughts as well, if you’d be willing to provide them.”

“Please, no need for formalities. This is not Fodlan nor Almyra. None of us are royalty here,” Edelgard insisted.

“Yeah, I’d rather do without titles here.” Claude sat himself down on Dimitri’s other side, pulling a knee close and resting his chin on it. “Edelgard, you first.”

She thought for a long moment. “I decided on my path at a young age,” she finally said. “I don’t believe you know the full extent of what went on during my childhood - my late siblings and I were tortured by a group known as Those Who Slither In The Dark, who I believe Claude and the Alliance army fought against after defeating the Empire, if I am correct.” 

Claude nodded. “And in your reality, you fought them after you beat the kingdom, right?”

“Yes. I was the only one of my siblings who survived the ordeal we went through as children. Much like Lysithea, I bear two crests as a result. It is a great power, but a terrifying one, and one I would rather not wield. However, it has helped me to accomplish everything I set out to do, and so in some strange way I suppose I am thankful.” She took a deep breath. “But that’s beside the point. Sometime after gaining said crests, I made a promise that I would recreate the world. I would end the cycle of the strong trampling the weak and make a world in which a crest did not determine one’s worth. I set out on that path at a young age, and as a result, I don’t think things could have been changed.

“But… there  _ is _ another way. In a world in which I had never suffered through such trials, in a world in which I had reached out rather than built walls, I do think it would be possible. Had I enlisted the professor or the two of you to help me fight Those Who Slither In The Dark despite the promised consequences, I believe we could have been allies. Friends, even. Even now, after everything, I do have my regrets.” Edelgard leaned forward, her face a mask of shame. “That is the greatest of them.”

Claude leaned back, taking in a deep breath of the cool morning air. “It’s interesting that you think that. I agree, there’s bound to be a world where things went differently for all of us, but what if we took those thoughts a step further? I told you when we were first summoned here that my father was the king of Almyra. I grew up there, but left because people treated me like an outsider since my mother was from Fodlan. Fodlan was no different, with opposite prejudices that were just as strong. But what if I’d come to Fodlan when I was even younger? What if I went on, say, a diplomatic mission with my grandfather? What if I met you two as kids?”

“Perhaps when Edelgard visited the kingdom with her uncle,” Dimitri suggested.

“Sure! Didn’t know that happened, but maybe another Claude met you two there and we became friends. Maybe we went into the academy as a trio despite our different lineages, and became something like Felix, Ingrid and Sylvain.”

“Claude would definitely be the Sylvain of the group,” Edelgard said lowly, causing Dimitri to fight back a snicker. 

“Um, rude, and you didn’t let me finish. Maybe we planned to take down the slithery dastards at the academy in another life. Maybe we grew up as friends, and maybe things continued that way.”

“Maybe we didn’t have to suffer,” Dimitri added.

The three gazed back into the dawn, enjoying the early morning quiet.

“Maybe we found another way.”


End file.
